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Graham Pudding

A steamed pudding made with Graham flour, molasses, raisins, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Graham Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Soften the butter but do not melt it.

  2. Beat the butter until creamy, then add molasses, milk, and the well-beaten egg.

  3. Mix all dry ingredients together and sift them in, then add the halved raisins.

Steam and serve

  1. Turn the mixture into a well-buttered mold, cover it, and steam for 2½ hours.

  2. Serve hot with lemon sauce.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Graham flour
Provides the bulk and structure of the pudding, with a coarse, wholesome texture.
Porto rico molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, and a rich moisture to the pudding.
Egg
Binds the batter together and helps it set as it cooks.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses's acidity to help the pudding rise and lighten.
Butter
Adds richness and tenderness through fat in the batter.

The step that matters

Steam the pudding gently in a covered mold. Steaming keeps the surface moist and heats the batter evenly, so it cooks through without drying or forming a crust. Covering the mold traps steam, which is what keeps the texture soft.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, molasses, milk, butter, egg, raisin, cinnamon):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Allspicefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, molasses, milk, butter, egg, raisin, cinnamon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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